A 'Small Indiscretion' changes lives

A car crash involving a beloved child, a mysterious photo from the past and an unfulfilled romantic longing produce a potent alchemy in Jan Ellison's first novel, A Small Indiscretion.

Ellison is a tantalizing storyteller, dropping delicious hints of foreshadowing and shifting back and forth in time, leaving the reader off-kilter at times but moving her story forward with cinematic verve.

Annie Black is a lighting designer, happily married with three children and living in San Francisco when a photograph arrives anonymously in the mail. It is Annie at age 20, posed with her boss, Malcolm, his wife Louise and Louise's sometime lover, Patrick, a photographer who is also the object of Annie's obsession.

Annie and Malcolm's figures have been solarized, their bodies silhouetted in silver. The snapshot captures a weekend trip to Paris when clashing passions and loyalties set forth an indiscretion that will shake Annie's contented life decades later. But who sent the photo?

Young Annie fled a listless life in the California for a chance at adventure in London. In need of a job, she is hired by Malcolm, a real-estate developer who takes her on as his assistant. Malcolm confesses to Annie that he and his wife have agreed to take on lovers as a way to re-ignite their dying marital embers. Annie is fond of Malcolm but fends off his advances until she is overcome with drink and frustration with Patrick, a will o' the wisp of a lover who leaves Annie longing for more.

Modern-day Annie's beloved son, Robbie, is flirting with a mysterious young woman who works at Annie's store. Captivating and chaotic, Emme sets off alarm bells in Annie.

Ellison masterfully captures the confusing and powerful moment when a young woman realizes her effect on men. Compellingly sympathetic characters bring the London chapter of Annie's story to dramatic life.

If you are clinging to a stash of letters and ticket stubs from old lovers, Indiscretion may have you rethinking the cost of holding on to the past rather than basking in the virtues of the present.

A Small Indiscretion

By Jan Ellison

Random House, 318 pp.

3 stars out of 4